projects

What’ve I been up to lately? Well I bought a bullet journal and some watercolor markers. This time around the journaling process is coming a little easier. I got the actual official bujo journal, in icelandic blue, and I got stencils. So…it’s slightly better? Continue reading Skipped and back

Lately I just haven’t felt like enough project work has been happening to really warrant a new post. The new apartment is pretty sweet and I’ve been trying to keep up with keeping it nice and fresh so it doesn’t aggravate Jonathan’s allergies. So, busy being domestic…not entirely interesting…

I haven’t updated in AGES! First post of April and it’s already over half way through the month, my bad.

A lot has happened over the past few weeks that I’m just now getting settled into a routine for work, housekeeping, cat attendance, knitting, and other…crafting…

So, in that order: Work.

Things are kinda same old, same old at the office…my home office…my kitchen table. Projects keeping me busy enough. Stuff going smoother than expected. My dissatisfaction at work as ebbed a little bit due to some external factors which will be somewhat apparent in the rest of this post.

Housekeeping: WE MOVED!

Holy crinoline, batman. We’re in a new place: closer to town, closer to stuff, closer to everything. It’s amazing how much of a change being 2 max stops closer to downtown makes. We’ve also increased our altitude. We’re not on the 4th floor of a 5 floor building. Kitty has SO MANY WINDOWs to choose from! We got lucky and have a corner unit, so there’s 2 walls of windows. We’re also NE facing, so no summer blistering sun to worry about! The view from here is pretty bland, but it’s nice to watch the rain fall and the trees outside. We’re high enough to see fights between pigeons, crows, and falcons.

I know it may seem weird, but Lucy has been chirping again! At our last place we had a lot of wild life, but not so much of a perch for her to be able to watch and chirp like she did at the place before. Each time we move it seems like we’re just getting a better situation for the cat…and then realize it’s absolutely terrible for either us or her. It’s only been a few weeks, but so far it seems like we hit the jackpot with this place! More room, more storage, we have CLOSET SPACE AGAIN!!!!

Life Pro-Tip: Never compromise on closet space thinking you’ll be able to get by with shoving your clothes into a dresser. Seriously.

Cat Attendance: All the space for activities!

Lucy is having the time of her life: people watching, napping, and playing with her toys. That last bit there, the toys, she’s doing it on her own?! This is something she barely did in the other places we were. Granted the first place we were at she could, but I was hardly ever home to witness it.

She’s got a semi-routine down now that things have gotten situated.

AM: Wake us up, wait/meow for breakfast, signal that she wants the blinds open, watch people from her perch for a little bit, use the box, run around like a crazy animal, hit up the toys in the living room, roam around for a little bit, settle in for a mid-morning nap.

PM: Wake up from the mid-morning nam (she’s a cat), check up on the plebs down on the street level from her perch, wait for the heater to turn on, snuggle in her bed, roam around, nap until dad comes home from work.

PPM: Meow for dinner, be as obnoxious as possible, check up on all the rooms in the new place, use the box, snuggle in her bed and blink at us for a few hours.

PPPM: We go to bed, she starts her night watch. Eventually returning to a kitchen table chair to settle in for the night.

That’s basically what she’s been doing. When we first moved into the place, she was all over the place and wasn’t napping as much. The more I moved around during the day unpacking, the more she had to be awake to investigate progress and micro-manage me.

Knitting: projects on hold and new projects on needles.

At this point I can proudly say that I’ve knitted A sock, and it fits! On hold though is my flower cardigan as I work on some secret knitting.

Other Crafting: spinning and sewing.

I GOT A SPINNING WHEEL FOR MY BIRTHDAY!!!!! Yes, I’ve managed to not be all gooshy about it on Instagram. Jonathan bought me a Kromski Minstrel in Mahogany finish!!!!!!!! Drove me all the way out to Newberg to pick one out at Pacific Wool and Fiber. I’ve already managed to figure out the setup with Scotch Tension and have spun up nearly all my fiber. I’m still a little iffy on plying, but my first and second attempts so far seem to be legit. The drafting technique isn’t that far off from using a drop spindle. Which btw, I’m kinda glad I don’t have a huge collection of drop spindles as I think from now on this spinning wheel will be my main cheese for spinning.

As for other crafts, I’ve gotten really into beading recently. Just small things, nothing fancy or crazy. I really enjoy it because it’s like instant gratification. I can many just about any design that I want too without having to follow some crazy techniques. The basics I have down are from Angela Clayton’s beading videos on Youtube. She’s really good at showing her technique and it isn’t complicated so that anyone can easily pick it up. And thanks to the enabling factor of Etsy, I have some more seed beads on their way to me! (I’m actually planning on using some of them for a knitting project, but I got a little bit more to experiment with!)

Use alternating sets of stitch markers. You really need A and B markers so you don’t get lost. Do not use all markers of the same color/type. You will get lost.

When working the wrong side of the rows, that is when I would place a marker. This made it easier for me to whip through each row without having to double-triple count the number of stitches I needed before a wrap/turn.

Double wrap the working yarn around your pinky. This is particular to us that throw our yarn when knitting versus those of us that knit continental style. Since it is 100% silk it will help you not only hold the yarn, but keep tension as well without straining your wrist.

The piece will block out.

With the Gehry Wrap out of the way, I plowed through the rest of the Mayu Sweater. The last parts required were the sleeves, which is my least favorite part of knitting. To circumvent the lack of size 15 dpns, I decided to do make a few changes.

Since I had messed up and somehow managed to be 2 stitches short of what I should have been at the sleeves for the size I made, I cast on 1 more on each end of the sleeve underarm. This is cast-on, not pick-up and knit.

To even things out I added 1 more stitch at the end of the row. Where I should have had 30 stitches, I did 31. (3, 25, 3) Half a stitch is taken on each end of a row when seaming, so the 1 extra stitch essentially disappears.

I knit stst until desired 8″ length careful to count as I go so that I could duplicate the correct number of rows for the second sleeve. After the third decrease, switched to smaller needles, purl 1 row (ws row), begin cuff ribbing (rs row).

Seam up the arm from the cuff, seam the underarm, block, enjoy!

I’m currently wearing it and since it is made of a slick, yet puffy, superwash bulky weight yarn (Biggo from Knitpicks), it grew quite a bit after washing. While drying it I was almost afraid it was going to be dress length! Luckily for me, it grew just the right amount. =)

Last month I went to a fiber festival called Black Sheep Gathering, (read about it here). It was my first time to this particular event, and my third fiber related event overall, aside from the Rose City Yarn Crawl. My particular interest in this event stems from this years additional hobby that I picked up last fall: spinning.

My prize items from that festival are my Jenkins Manzanita Aegean Turkish Spindle and a sampler pack of roving from 30 different breeds of sheep from Wool Gatherings. 30 Breeds!! Each sample is a full 1oz of fiber. Since I am new to spinning and fibers beyond merino and polwarth, I’m hoping this will be the introduction I need to expanding into more exotic fibers!

aaahhh….

I have split it with Norichan and we will be spinning and swatching each 0.5oz sample. We will each be doing a series of posts reviewing each breed in reverse alphabetical order, on the 15th of the month, starting in September. With personal projects and christmas knitting coming up fast, July is almost over, this will be a definite challenge in the pursuit of knowledge!

The only coincidental happening would be that Jonathan decided to go into work late which resulted in him randomly running into a friend of ours who happens to be our mailman, and who is married to my hair stylist. #smallworld

Speaking of the world: we’re down to 12 days until vacation! I’m so excited for this. My first transatlantic flight! My first trip to Europe! XD

I’m still waffling on what projects I want to bring with me, but I’m sure I’ll get it all figured out the night before…possibly…

I’m about half way done with the Rimski Korsakoffee Cake Shawl. It’s been a little slow going since I’m adding beads. And I did run out of green/seafoam colored ones so I’m adding some gold colored ones. It’ll be fine. lol

I will report all my modifications in another post once the shawl is done. It’s been years since I’ve worked on a real crochet pattern and I’m pleasantly surprised at the complexity and thought that went into this pattern. Back when I first started yarn crafting I was a crochet buff, but I never made anything more complex than simple projects like scarves, blankets, and pot holders. The patterns in the early 2000’s were not that fashion forward, easy to read, and were difficult to find. Now with Ravelry, the community has obviously grown, but it still seems like the crochet offering is rather low. Where you’d find hundreds of sweater patterns to knit, you’ll maybe find 20-30 when filtering by crochet instead of knitting. It’s kind of a disappointment and I’m by no means advanced enough to produce a sweater pattern myself. So overall I’d say maybe this is where I should stretch my creativity.

In tandem with feeling massive amounts of anxiety lately here are some of the things I’ve been working on to channel that potentially self-destructive behavior into something constructive. And yes I have to admit that the sweater I was working on for my husband will not be ready by the time we leave for Ireland. =(

Rimski Kosakoffee Cake Shawl

Beanie

Out of all five of these only the beanie is completed. The Rimski shawl is crochet instead of knit. It was originally supposed to be my airplane travel project, but I decided to add beads…so I may just leave this one at home or hurry up on it and wear it in Ireland. I’m already almost half way done with it.

Crosspatch Creations Skalkaho Pass

Frosty Acorn

The Skalkaho Pass batt is spinning up a lot smoother than my first batch of Crosspatch Creations fiber. I’m really excited to ply it with a solid color. I’m thinking of getting some Corriedale or maybe even some undyed Vixen base from Thoroughly Thwacked. MOAR SILK!!! ALL THE RAINBOW COLORS!!! Hehe.

Frosty Acorn is my first project utilizing my own handspun. You wouldn’t think it, but the blue/pink actually works really well with the purple color of the Black Butte. This also won’t be done by the time we go to Ireland, but one can hope! (Also, this will likely be gifted to my sister…I made it slightly too small…oops…)

Teasdale Shawl

And last but not least, my Teasdale shawl. The border is a 21 repeat of a 12 row chart. Chugging along on it! I got about 10 repeats done while listening in on my husband’s DnD session last Sunday. Maybe this will be my airplane project…?

Sigh, my Ongoing Projects widget is getting too long! At least I don’t have a mountain of UFO’s to contend with. 5-10 is reasonable, right? >.<

Some other things I’ve been thinking about making include a crochet top. A basic cover I can wear over a tank top or light undershirt for the summer. I’ve discovered that the stranded yarns from Yarnia work best in crochet for me and not knitted. I still really like the peachy color I bought a few months ago so it should work out fine. Maybe THAT will be my airplane project?

I have a full skein of Dream in Color Smooshy as well that I want to make into a hat. And I also have some burgundy and blue skeins of lace-weight-ish yarn that I want to knit together stranded as a hat as well.Maybe I’ll make that into a cowl instead…hmm…nice light and airy lace thing that I can use to layer on…hmm…. Ah too many choices! Too many accessories!!!